This Chicken Pot Pie is made with fresh veggies and your own sauce not a condensed can of soup as your base (which I find most “home made” recipes use).  If your family does not like vegetables here is a great way to get them to eat a huge amount and love it.  I made enough for two pot pies; you can freeze one for up to three months.   It is a reasonably easy recipe to follow, and if you don’t have the time to chop all the veggies you can use frozen. The same goes for the herbs, but nothing smells as good as chopping up your herbs and releasing all the aromatic goodness into the air. It is one of the effects I like most about cooking; the incredible smells and textures of the food.

This is a Chicken and Apple wood bacon Pot Pie with fresh sage & thyme.  If doing it with fresh ingredients please give yourself an hour to get it all prepped for cooking,  the cooking time however is only about 20 minutes in addition to letting it set for 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

You will need the following to make 2 pies, just half the ingredients for one. (A pie will serve 5 easily)

1 package apple wood smoked bacon

3 small onions chopped 3 cloves garlic minced

1 lb peeled baby carrots sliced

12 oz of fresh haricots verts (green beans) ends cut and chopped into bite size pieces.

5 stalks of celery cut lengthwise and chopped

1 lg jalapeño pepper minced

1 ½ cup fresh or frozen peas (I could not get my hand on fresh had to use frozen)

2 cups chicken broth (I used low sodium)

4 tablespoons fresh sage chopped

4 tablespoons fresh thyme chopped

2 small containers of Crème Fraiche (Crème Fraiche is a French Heavy cream that is slightly sour, you ought to be able to find it in with the specialty cheeses section of your local grocer) If you can’t find this you can use sour cream.

4 tablespoons of Flour

½ stick of butter

3 pounds skinless chicken breast

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

Chop all your vegetables and herbs, this makes cooking so much easier when everything is ready at your fingertips.

Before you start prepping the vegetables, start a pot of salted water to boil for the chicken. Boil the chicken until cooked through. Remove from the water and allow it to cool.

Cut the green beans, carrots, celery, jalapeño, onions, and herbs.

Shred the chicken with two forks, this is the easiest and most reasonable way to shred the chicken. Just hold the chicken with one fork and use the other to pull chicken away.

 Set aside the chicken.

Preheat the oven to 450 Degrees.  Cook the bacon in the pot you used for the chicken to boil.  Cut the bacon into small bits. (I used a pair of kitchen shears)

Allow it to cook until crispy. 

Add the onion and cook until translucent.  This will take several minutes.

Once the onions are done add the carrots, celery, garlic, beans, jalapeño and herbs.

Allow to sauté for several minutes before adding the chicken broth; bring to a boil until the carrots and celery are tender but still firm. Remember they will continue cooking in the oven later, you don’t want to over cook them and have a mush instead of a well defined meal!. The liquid will reduce; if you find you need more broth add it as long as the vegetables become slightly tender.

Stir in the chicken and peas as well as the crème Fraîche, bring to a simmer.

In a small pot melt the butter and add the flour to it bringing it to a creamy consistency.

Add this to the chicken mixture stirring it in to incorporate it through the entire pot.

Divide the mixture among your pie dishes.

Unfold the puff pastry and roll it out if need be, cover the pie plates with the pastry and remove all excess pastry from the sides.

Cook for 20 minutes, remove from the oven and allow to cool before serving.

I have to admit I was wondering if the bacon would work in the end but it gave the pie a smoky old world flavor.  This had a delicate balance between the herbs and the crème fraîche that complimented the dish exceptionally well. The first pie was gone immediately and not a bit was left.  It had rave reviews and will certainly be a nice addition to the winter cooking list.

Let me know what you think and better yet if you try the recipe give me your feedback.  Please remember I am not one to measure so I tried to guess the measuring as best I could.

Bon Appétit

LauraLovingLife

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